Never Again
by Insomniac1
Summary: A story about Zidane's childhood before Tantalus-how he escaped from Garland, and how his older brother Kuja turned into the merciless man we came to know and love today (that phrase is oozing with sarcasm). Please R&R. Just posted 18thChp.
1. Escaping

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX. I do not own Final Fantasy IX. I do not own Final Fantasy IX. I do not own Final Fantasy IX...I think I might have to write this about fifty more times before it's convincing to me. If only they had this on CD or something (sigh...I love subliminal messages).  
  
Never Again: Chapter 1  
  
"Kuja?" A young fair-haired boy quietly entered the room, his tail swishing behind him. He stood next to his older brother and looked up at him. He was relatively young (about 6 years old) compared to his older brother who was in his early teens. "What are you doing, Kuja?"  
  
"Nothing," Kuja answered dryly while shoving another piece of equipment into his bag. His hand brushed a few wandering strands of white hair out of his face and back behind his ears. Then he continued to fill the small bag next to him.  
  
"It looks like you're going somewhere. Can I come too?" His bright blue eyes twinkled as he looked up at him, but Kuja didn't seem to notice him. He was still fixed on packing. "Kuja..." he whined-more persistently this time. Failing to get his attention, he gave Kuja's tail a quick yank.  
  
"Zidane!" he scolded quietly while taking his tail back. "You should be in bed by now! Now go!"  
  
"You shouldn't be up either," Zidane sneered. "Can I come with you? Pleeease!"  
  
"I'm not going anywhere, and you can't come with me."  
  
With that, Zidane left the room with his head hanging, his tail drooping, and his heals clicking all the way down the darkened hallway. Those footsteps were all that he could hear while walking down the corridor, but they weren't just his footsteps. He stopped walking and held his breath. Someone was definitely coming. He quickly ducked behind a corner and squinted to see what the sound was coming from. A very peeved Garland was heading in his direction.  
  
Zidane hurried back down the hallway, not the least bit inconspicuous, toward Kuja to warn him. It would be useless to try and sneak all the way back; he could tell that Garland had already seen him. Upon entering the room, he saw that Kuja was still busy packing. "Kuja!" he panted. Kuja gave him an annoyed look and went back to packing without saying a word. "Kuja, Garland is coming! If you're planning on leaving, you'd better hurry."  
  
"What?" Kuja focused on him closely. At least Zidane finally got a reaction out of his brother, but the reaction was under circumstances that he'd rather not have to face.  
  
"Garland is..." He was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Kuja quickly stiffened up, and Zidane turned around slowly to face the old man who was clad entirely in black.  
  
"What's all this?" Garland spoke. Zidane and Kuja stood silent. "Were you planning on going somewhere, Kuja?" No answer. Garland, completely ignoring Zidane, took another step toward Kuja. "I asked you a question, and I expect an answer." Still no answer from Kuja. Before Zidane knew it, Kuja was smoldering on the ground from Garland's blast aimed squarely at his stomach.  
  
In shock, Zidane sprang up to help him. He kneeled down next to him and saw that he was out cold. Before Zidane was able to stand up again, Garland was pulling him away from Kuja. His grasp was icy cold despite the gloves he was wearing. "Go Zidane," Garland said to him without turning his glance away from Kuja's unmoving body. "Kuja has been a bad influence on you. He needs some alone time now." He shooed Zidane out the door and back to his room.  
  
Zidane sat down on his bed and waited. "I can't stand this," he thought to himself. "What's Garland gonna do to Kuja? Was Kuja really planning on running away?" The young boy laid back and looked up at the ceiling. "I wanna run away too, Kuja."  
  
Zidane pretended to be asleep when he saw Garland walking by his door. "Garland is so mean..." he thought to himself again. Zidane lied in his room for about a half an hour before leaving again. But before he visited Kuja, he took the precaution of going to Garland's room to make sure that he was asleep. That way, he could be sure he wasn't creeping around and watching them.  
  
He opened the door of the room that Kuja was in. He was sitting up and conscious now, but he still didn't look very good. "Kuja, are you ok?" He walked over and sat down next to him. "Kuja?"  
  
"Zidane, go back to bed," Kuja said while staring off into space.  
  
"No, I'm coming with you. Remember?"  
  
"I'm not going anywhere. I've already been caught once tonight and I don't plan on having that happen again."  
  
"Of course it won't happen again! Garland's fast asleep. If we leave now, we'll be long gone before Garland wakes up again."  
  
Kuja stood up. "Zidane, let's go to bed."  
  
"How come you never listen to me? I just told you that we can leave and you completely ignore me."  
  
"What makes you think I want to leave?" Kuja answered. Zidane could see that Kuja was trying to use reverse psychology on him.  
  
"Because Garland's a jack ass," Zidane laughed.  
  
"Yeah, but he was right about one thing...I have been a bad influence on you."  
  
  
  
Author's Note: So whadduya think? Please tell me what you think. I'm not a mind reader, so I can't figure out what you think about it unless you review. If you want my opinion (which you probably don't or just don't care), I think Zidane sounds like Eiko (oh well). And Kuja...he's not evil, but he has teenage hormones, which is about the same thing as being a being of pure evil. If you have teenagers in your house (I pitty you) you know what I'm talking about. If you are one (like me :) he he he) you'll take advantage of the fact that you have control over your elders because they find you irritating...or send me hate mail for my teenager crack. *Takes a deep breath and ponders whether to check her mailbox or not*  
  
-Insomniac- 


	2. Stormy Weather

Disclaimer: *Sniff Sniff* I wished I owned something...something other than pocket lint and paper clips. Oh well, I guess I'll survive. Paper clips are kinda cool...especially when you're bored. You can play with them for hours (believe me, I've done it).  
  
Never Again: Chapter 2  
  
"Garland's prized silver dragon," Kuja said out loud to himself while walking up to the enormous creature. It's wings waved in the air as they came closer.  
  
"What about it," the younger gnome answered inquisitively.  
  
"It's one of Garland's greatest creations," Kuja said and then thought, "Next to us, that is...I wonder if Zidane knows that he was created and not born." He pulled himself away from his thoughts, not wanting to be distracted to the current job on hand. "This is how we're traveling."  
  
"Where are we going?" Zidane asked again wagging his tail back and forth.  
  
"It doesn't matter, does it? You just want to get away from this place. I don't blame you..."  
  
"It doesn't matter, but I still wanna know!"  
  
"If you really must know, we're going to Gaia."  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"Well...it's difficult to explain. You'll see what I mean when we get there." He reached up, petted the dragon's head, and leaped up onto its back. He extended a hand to help Zidane get up, but he had already jumped up behind him before Kuja could order him. "Hmmm...he's stronger than I thought. Garland must've been training him more," he thought to himself.  
  
The dragon started to wave its wings again before it took off. Zidane looked a little frightened at first, but he started to loosen up a few minutes into the flight. They passed out of Pandemonium and over Bran Bal where they were greeted by the eeriness of the bright blue light at the entrance. "What's that? It's kinda pretty," Zidane asked softly. Kuja noticed that he talked like he was in a dizzy spell.  
  
"Zidane! Don't look directly at the light!" Kuja warned. "That light does strange things to the mind." He turned around to check on him again. Zidane was barely awake. "Zidane, are you ok?...Zidane!" He tried to shake Zidane away from the light's hypnotizing spell, but Zidane had already fallen asleep.  
  
The silver dragon had swooped down into the blue light where Kuja and Zidane would be transported to Gaia. Kuja looked down at the dragon's back so he wouldn't fall asleep as well. He could still see the colors shooting by in the corner of his eye. They were starting to make him dizzy, so closed his eyes tightly. Then he felt himself being raised off the dragon's back. It was like he was floating away. He opened his eyes and saw that they were falling. The dragon had lost its control over the blue light and was falling with them. Kuja tried to hold on to the dragon's back, but he saw that Zidane was falling away too. He tried to use his tail to hold on to the dragon while he reached for Zidane's arm, and at first he was successful. Unfortunately, the force pulling them apart was much stronger. Kuja's tail slowly slipped away from the dragon's neck, and he tightened his grasp on Zidane's arm so he wouldn't loose him too. They continued to fall through the void. Kuja's eyes were shut tight through the remainder of it. He wouldn't open them until he was sure that he was safely on the ground.  
  
Kuja felt the green grass beneath him but didn't feel the landing. It was like he just appeared there. He was lying flat on his back and the grass was tickling the bare skin of his arms. It was a new feeling for him. There was no grass in Terra, and Garland would never let him lie there in the middle of a field just for enjoyment. The gray skies loomed above him, and a gust of wind blew by giving him a slight chill. He was comfortable where he was and didn't want to move, but he raised his arm to make sure that he still could.  
  
Kuja turned his head and saw the limp body of his little brother beside him. Garland's silver dragon was nowhere to be seen. He attempted to sit up, but he must've done it too fast because his head was throbbing and his back was aching. He was so disoriented that it felt like his internal organs had been ripped apart from each other then reassembled in the wrong places.  
  
"Zidane, wake up," Kuja coughed hoarsely while crawling over to him and shaking him lightly. He heard Zidane grunt and started to shake him harder to help him regain consciousness. "Zidane!" he said a little louder this time.  
  
Zidane's eyelids started to twitch before they finally opened. He moved his head left and right scanning the area. "Where are we?"  
  
"We're finally in Gaia," Kuja answered.  
  
"Where's Gaia?" Zidane asked again.  
  
"I already told you...it's difficult to explain where Gaia is."  
  
"Then how did we get there?"  
  
"That's also a little hard to explain. You'd know if you were awake. Let's just not worry about it right now, and I'll tell you in detail some other time. Is that ok with you?" Zidane shook his head in compliance.  
  
"What's wrong with the sky?" Zidane asked a few seconds later.  
  
"Don't you ever stop asking questions? It's probably about to storm," Kuja answered. He was already annoyed, but Zidane asked another question.  
  
"I'm not talking about the gray clouds, I'm worried about the ones that are glowing red!"  
  
"Glowing red...What?" Kuja looked up, and sure enough, there were red glowing clouds. He saw the red, leering eye of the Invincible penetrate through them as it guided itself down to the ground. Kuja knew that Garland had managed to catch him again.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Another chapter done. Finally! You're going to tell me what you think of it aren't you? Do it or I'll sick my army of flying monkeys after you. *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* Oh, and by the way, they're equipped with light-sabers. :)  
  
-Insomniac- 


	3. Kuja Takes a Stand

Disclaimer: I do not own FFIX. End of sentence. PERIOD!  
  
Never Again: Chapter 3  
  
The storm was starting to pick up. It was raining heavily, and the two boys were huddling together in the middle of the grassy field to try to survive the rising winds. Worst of all, fire was coming down from the sky onto a nearby village. Kuja could feel Zidane shivering in his arms. Then he realized that Zidane wasn't the only one shaking, but he couldn't tell whether they were cold or scared.  
  
"Kuja, what's going on?" Zidane tried to yell. It sounded more like a whimper. "Why does it rain fire in Gaia?"  
  
"That's not the weather, Zidane. I think Garland's found us," Kuja answered into his ear. He wasn't sure if Zidane could hear him or not.  
  
"Does he think we're in that village? Is he trying to kill us?" Zidane whimpered again. He was shaking more violently now. Or was it Kuja who was shaking?  
  
"Don't look so shocked, Zidane," Kuja thought to himself. "Garland would kill us both in a heartbeat if he wanted to, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did want to kill us. We did run away with his prized silver dragon, after all."  
  
They stood there and watched. The light from the fires was reflecting off his glassy blue eyes, and its eerie glow flooded over his face. He wanted to do something, but there was nothing he could do. There was no that he could take on Garland and survive, let alone win. He learned that earlier that night when he tried to escape the first time. Luckily for him, the scene wasn't bothering him much anymore. Kuja could no longer hear the muffled screams and cries of the nearby town. Nor could he hear the deafening thunder, the blowing wind, or the crashing waves up against the shore. They were all being drowned out by the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.  
  
The next sight was even more horrific than the fires falling from the sky and destroying the town. The eye of the Invincible had turned into an actual eye instead of glowing red circle at the bottom of the ship. The sinister eye was looking down on the town, and there were unusual glowing energies swirling up to it. He could see the people desperately trying to escape. The poor souls on the rickety wooden boats would be blown away in this storm, and the people escaping by foot would have a hard time finding a road to take that wasn't on fire. They were just as confused about this tragedy as he was, if not more.  
  
"What's going on? What's Garland doing? What happened to the Invincible? What are those things floating up to it?" Again, Zidane was asking a million questioned a minute, but Kuja found himself asking the very same questions.  
  
"I'm sorry, Zidane, but I don't know the answers to any of those questions," Kuja answered.  
  
The energies forming from the village continued up toward the ship. "Are we really what he's after?" Kuja asked himself after watching for a few minutes-possibly the longest minutes of his life. "He never did land like we thought he was going to."  
  
The energies finally stopped flowing. The giant eye of the Invincible slowly closed and disappeared. It turned back into the creepy red glowing circle that Kuja had always recognized as the Invincible. The fires were starting to die down, and the cries were no more. He could no longer see the boats in the ocean. Either they had gotten away successfully, or they all had perished in the storm. "Were there any survivors?" Kuja thought to himself. "What have you done, Garland?"  
  
The Invincible was departing. They could no longer see it. Kuja sat back down on the ground, took a deep breath, and attempted to contemplate what just happened. Zidane looked at him and quickly sat down next to him. He noticed that Zidane was still shivering, but not as badly as before.  
  
"Is it over? Is that what Garland came to Gaia for? He doesn't even know we left. We'll be safe, right?" Zidane asked softly.  
  
"...I guess so...I sure hope so," Kuja said out loud to himself. He wasn't sure he believed that, but denial could be a good healer.  
  
He lay back, grateful for the break he was getting. The experience hadn't harmed him physically, but he was being eaten alive mentally. He wanted more than anything to sleep, but he couldn't. Instead, he rested his eyes for a minute, and for only a minute. Zidane was shaking him at the end of that minute. "Kuja, look! The dragon's coming back. We can leave."  
  
Kuja forced himself up and scanned the skies for the dragon. He found it, but something was different about it. He strained his eyes harder to see the dark figure upon it that he could barely see before. "Don't be so sure we can leave, Zidane. I think Garland's on our dragon."  
  
Kuja could feel the wind sweeping across his face as the dragon touched down on the ground. He watched as Garland climbed down from its back and calmly walked toward them. Kuja wanted to run but his feet felt like they were being weighed down by cement blocks. He saw Zidane scurry behind him. "Is he expecting me to get us out of this? He has too much faith in me," Kuja said to himself.  
  
"Did you like the show?" Garland's voice sent a chill down Kuja's spine. "You should. This is what you are being trained to do. This what you were created to do." Kuja's eyes narrowed as he gave Garland a death stare.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Kuja croaked softly.  
  
"You're my Angel of Death, Kuja. Zidane is too, but you've corrupted him. Now you're trying to take him away from me."  
  
"Angel of Death?" The words didn't seem to flow right to him. "You killed all those people. Why?"  
  
"It had to be done. If you come back home, I'll explain it to you. I'll explain why you were created in the first place."  
  
"No," Kuja said a little louder, "I'm not going to help you kill people!" Kuja fired at him. His magic was extremely weak compared to Garland's, but it was enough to temporarily blind him. He grabbed Zidane's arm and lead him to the silver dragon. They got onto its back and were off the ground before Garland could finally clear the smoke away.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I tried really hard to get this chapter done and post it all in a day-since you begged so nicely (and since I can't afford to loose another flying monkey battle). It'll probably take more time than a day until you get to read it 'cause it takes almost a day just to post it, not to mention write it. But for the record, I got it done. And don't expect it quick like this all the time. I only got it done because I had a long weekend (I love teachers' meetings). Anyway, you're supposed to review (even though this is about the forth time I told you to). o(^_^)o monkey.  
  
-Insomniac- 


	4. Turning Away

Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out yet then figure it out already! Here's a clue...I don't own FFIX. Someone else does!  
  
Chapter 4: Never Again  
  
"I think we're safe now," Kuja said to Zidane reassuringly as Garland was slowly disappearing from they're view. Unfortunately, Kuja didn't really believe what he had just told Zidane.  
  
"What if Garland gets the Invincible? He'll catch up with us for sure," Zidane said with a sorrowful look on his face. Kuja could see that Zidane was adopting his pessimistic attitude. He remembered how Garland had said that he was a bad influence on Zidane. Maybe it was true, but at least he wasn't training Zidane to kill people like Garland was.  
  
"Garland can't get to the Invincible," he laughed. "We have his silver dragon. Garland can't even get back to Terra." He tried to sound assuring for Zidane's sake, but there was a noticeable shudder in his laugh.  
  
Soon, the entire island they were on started to disappear from view as they flew out over the ocean. Kuja turned around as if he were turning away from his old life in Terra and looked in the other direction-toward his future. Another strip of land was forming directly in front of them as they continued to travel. The approaching island seemed to be engulfed in some kind of hazy fog. Some parts were clear, but the rest was too foggy to even see the ground. It seemed dangerous to try and land. He didn't know what kind of effects the fog could have on them. He couldn't afford to have anyone knocked unconscious again.  
  
"It's kinda cold up here. And I'm kinda tired. Can we land now?" Zidane whined. He could see that Zidane had his arms wrapped around himself to keep warm from the cold wind.  
  
"We can't land yet. We need to find a place that doesn't have so much fog. It might be dangerous to land in it," Kuja answered. He figured his excuse was a logical and believable one. He didn't want to tell Zidane that Garland would expect them to land as soon as they saw land. He wanted Zidane to continue to think that they were out of danger even though they weren't. Fact was, they needed to travel farther inland to a place that wasn't so predictable and land in a place where there was no fog.  
  
They ended up flying to the other side of the continent before they could finally find a place that was suitable to land. Kuja shooed the dragon away when both of their feet were planted firmly on the ground and turned to the town. "What are you doing?" Zidane asked. "That's our transportation, remember?"  
  
"The dragon is way to conspicuous. The people in the city will know something is not right about us if we walk in with a dragon following behind us. The dragon might also give us away to Garland. We wouldn't want that, would we?" Kuja turned around and motioned for Zidane to follow him into the city.  
  
The city was so much unlike anything he ever saw in Terra. First of all, the overall architecture was different. It wasn't like the creepy blue shiny buildings in Bran Bal; it was more rustic and homey. It surprised him even more that anyone was awake at his time of night. People were walking around with each other and talking. Children were running around, laughing, and playing games. None of the people of Bran Bal seemed very social. They didn't seem to show any emotion whatsoever. He sometimes wondered if the inhabitants were all there. They seemed like they weren't even awake sometimes. Another very unusual sight was the miniature airships that traveled around the city. He never knew that such a thing as miniature airships existed.  
  
The first thing he was planning to find was a place to sleep. They had been gone for only an hour, which was surprising because a lot had happened in that short period of time. It was still night, and even though he didn't show it, he was exhausted. Lucky for him, the inn was right next to the entrance of the city. He walked inside with Zidane following closely behind him. The owner gave them both a strange look. Kuja didn't know if it was because they looked "different" or if it was strange to have a couple of kids wanting to rent a room. He thought that he was careful enough as to not look conspicuous, so he figured that he got the weird look because they were kids.  
  
"Are there any rooms open?" Kuja asked as he stood in front of the man at the counter.  
  
"Nope, sorry kid. I just gave the last vacancy to that couple over there," the man said as he pointed to the old couple that were talking to Zidane. He went over and tapped Zidane lightly on the shoulder.  
  
"Let's go, Zidane. There's no more room for us," Kuja said to him.  
  
"Oh look," the old woman said to her husband as she pointed at Kuja, "the older one has a tail too."  
  
Kuja spun around, looked at his tail, and started to blush. "So that's why everyone has been giving us weird looks," he thought to himself.  
  
"They're both darling," the woman said again.  
  
He gave the woman an odd half smile and spoke to Zidane, "Come one, Zidane."  
  
"Do you two have a place to stay for the night?" the woman asked him with a worried expression on her face.  
  
"No, but I'm sure we'll find something," Kuja answered.  
  
"You can stay with us if you'd like. It's a lot better than going out in the cold."  
  
"No," Kuja answered again, "I wouldn't want to bother you like that."  
  
"Oh, nonsense. It's too dangerous for a couple of children like yourselves to be out at night," the woman insisted. Kuja tried to respond, but the woman was already dragging them down the hallway before he could get so much as a peep in. "Come on now. Don't be stubborn."  
  
They got to they're room and the woman was bending down and talking to Zidane again. The room was small and unlike any he'd ever seen in Terra. It had two beds with maroon blankets draped over them and a small wooden dresser in the corner with a lamp standing on top of it. The walls of the room were painted beige and had wallpaper framing the top. The floor was wooden except for a rug in the middle of the room, but it still creaked whenever you took a step on it.  
  
"Do you two mind sharing a bed?" the woman asked while laying her bag down next to the door.  
  
"No, that'll be fine," Kuja answered politely. "Thank you for having us."  
  
The married couple sat down on the bed opposite of his after the woman gave Zidane one last pat on the head. Then Zidane jumped up on his bed and sat next to Kuja. Kuja lay back and took one last look at the ceiling before he drifted off to sleep.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Sorry that it took so long to write this chapter. I haven't had much time to write because my teachers have been beating me to death with homework. I had a major writer's block too...and that's why this chapter sucks so badly. Oh well. You can all do me a favor and review so you can complain about how bad my latest chapter was. I promise to do a better job next time (don't worry, that didn't sound convincing me either).  
  
-Insomniac- 


	5. Surrendering

Disclaimer: Um...yeah...DUH!!!!  
  
Chapter 5: Never Again  
  
Terrible things raced through his mind that night. The scenes of the burning city and the giant eye in the sky plagued his dreams. It seemed that he could remember everything from that night in perfect detail. It wouldn't stop there; everything kept repeating itself. And when he came to the point where he couldn't take it anymore, he woke up. Sweat was running down his forehead, his mouth was dry, and his hands were trembling. No one else was awake yet. The sky outside was still dark, but he could tell that the sun was about ready to peek over the horizon. This picture comforted him, but a shadow in the corner of his eye broke his contentment.  
  
"Kuja," it spoke softly, "did you really think you could get away from me? How could you be such a fool?"  
  
"How did you..."  
  
"How did I find you?" he said before Kuga could finish. "I'll always know where you are. I created you. I know everything about you including where you are, what you're thinking, and what you're going to do next."  
  
"Then what am I going to do next?" Kuja said smartly.  
  
"You're coming with me back to Terra-whether you like it or not."  
  
"Is that so? Well Garland, I know a lot about you too."  
  
"Oh, and what's that?"  
  
"I know that you've got a lot to learn about kids-especially teenagers. So why don't you leave me alone and come back when know what you're doing," Kuja said with a smirk on his face. If Garland was planning to kill him because he was being cocky, then now would be the right time. That way he won't have to go back to Terra.  
  
"I don't have time for this nonsense...Wake Zidane and we'll go back home and forget that any of this ever happened."  
  
"I don't think I heard anything about Zidane going anywhere when you were making your little predictions."  
  
"Are you suggesting that I leave him behind? In case you've forgotten, Zidane is also my property."  
  
"Neither of us are your property, Garland. And yes, I do think that Zidane should be left behind."  
  
Garland eyed him carefully. "What happens if I come back for him later? Then what?"  
  
"I won't let you," Kuja said very seriously now. "Either take me alone or leave us both alone."  
  
"Fine," Garland grinned, "even though he probably won't survive anyway. He hasn't gotten much training."  
  
"He's better off with these complete strangers than he is with you," Kuja said gesturing to the sleeping married couple.  
  
"It's a deal then." Garland was halfway out the door before he saw that Kuja wasn't following. "Are you coming or not?"  
  
"Just a minute." Garland gave him a strange look. "You don't expect me to leave without saying goodbye do you?" Kuja walked over to the dresser in the corner and picked up the complimentary pen and notepad that was left in every room. He thought for a minute and quickly started to scribble down a few things before tearing the piece off the pad and folding it up. He walked over to the bed where Zidane was sleeping and attempted to slip the note into his pocket. "You owe me one, Zidane," Kuja whispered in his brother's ear.  
  
Garland waited by the door until Kuja started to follow him. The walk through the small inn's hallway had to be one of the longest walks he had ever taken. And throughout the whole way down the hallway, he was thinking, "This has got to be the worst decision I have ever made." He walked slowly and solemnly, but his stalling wouldn't help him very much. One way or the other, he would have to return to Terra and endure Garland's torment.  
  
The Invincible was parked right outside of the town. "How did he get to it?" Kuja thought to himself. He notices that the sun was starting to rise. He couldn't actually see the sun though. The Invincible was blocking his view, but the sky around the Invincible was starting to get brighter. Gaia's sky emphasized the colors of the morning sunrise better than Terra's sky. The soft oranges, creamy yellows, light purples, and deep blues seemed to form together in the giant pallet of the sky. The black clad Garland clashed with everything that this scene emphasized.  
  
"Say goodbye, Kuja," Garland said mockingly as they entered the Invincible.  
  
"More like see ya later," he thought to himself. "I'll be back."  
  
Author's Note: Another chapter done. FINALLY! And while I was writing, I started to wonder why bad guys always call their enemies fools. Can't they be a little more original? The word fool has been beaten to death (and now it's lying on the ground twitching). Wouldn't it be a nice touch if the bad guy called the other guy a stupid head or something weird like that? Or would stupid head not have the same effect as fool? ......and this is what I think about. Anyway, please READ AND REVIEW!  
  
-Insomniac- 


	6. Not Like Me

Disclaimer: If I'm not allowed to own a life then I'm certainly not allowed to own a video game...company...thing. Ok then.  
  
Never Again: Chapter 6  
  
Kuja woke for a second time that morning, and surprisingly, in his own bed. He didn't remember ever going back to Terra. He remembered leaving Zidane at the inn and getting on the Invincible, but everything after that was a blur. Then he thought to himself, "Was I..."  
  
"Dreaming? No, all of it was real."  
  
"Garland?" he said almost jumping out of his bed. "Don't you have anything better to do than watch me sleep. And this mind reading thing isn't actually comforting either...By the way, how did I get here?"  
  
"You won't remember even if I tell you."  
  
"I already know that I don't know, but I'd still like to know!" Kuja argued.  
  
"If you really want to know, think about it for a while."  
  
"Can't you just-," Kuja noticed that Garland was no longer listening and stopped to think. "...Damn blue light."  
  
"Are you ready to get up yet? I have a few things to show you," Garland interrupted his thinking. "You may not like what I'm about to show you, but it's something you have to know for my plan to work."  
  
Kuja looked at him for a moment trying to understand what he was telling him and trying to figure out whether he should trust him or not. He slid his feet to the ground and started to stand up. He found that he was sore for some reason, especially his back. "Did I fall off the airship or something?" He started following Garland down the hallways and out of Pandemonium, which was strange because Garland never let him out. Kuja usually snuck out by himself and got to meet the people in Bran Bal-sorta. They weren't the kind of people that did much or said much of anything.  
  
Garland led him to the laboratory. Kuja never likes to go there whenever he sneaks out. It's even creepier in there than it is in the rest of the city. He never understood what they were making or studying in that laboratory. "Is this place familiar to you?" Garland interrupted again.  
  
Kuja stood shocked for a moment. "How did he find out that I've been sneaking out?"  
  
"It should be familiar. This is where you and all your brothers and sisters were created." A sigh of relief emitted from Kuja's mouth. "Don't look so happy. I know that you've been sneaking out."  
  
He tried to let the sneaking out part slip his mind for the time being. "What do you mean by brothers and sisters? I don't have a sister."  
  
"You have a sister. Many of them, actually. And more brothers than you thought. Just look around. All of these genomes were created just like you."  
  
"What do you mean? I'm not like them! How can you even call these people living?"  
  
"I guess you were created a little different. You were created with a soul. Unfortunately, it made you a little too...emotional. Next time I create a genome, I'll have to take the soul into more consideration. Aside from that, you were created just like them, and you're just as insignificant as them." Kuja stood shocked for a moment. Then Garland decided to direct the conversation into a different direction. He walked over to the tubes in the opposite corner and looked up at them. "Isn't life beautiful?"  
  
"That's not life! That's a sick science experiment!"  
  
"It's how you were created, and it is what you will be fighting for." He waited until Kuja's confused look started to fade away from his face before continuing. "It may not seem like life now, but it will be. For the people of Terra to survive, Terra must merge with another younger planet. Usually, the planets are too young to have life so souls flow freely, but Gaia is different. We must disrupt the flow of souls in order for Terra to merge with Gaia. This is what I demonstrated the other night."  
  
"But you killed all those people," Kuja argued.  
  
"It's either us or them," Garland answered calmly.  
  
"I'm not going to kill a bunch of innocent people to save a bunch of people who aren't even people!"  
  
"The original souls of Terra can't survive here unless Terra merges with another planet. The people you see here are merely host bodies for the original inhabitants."  
  
"I don't care! I still don't want to hurt innocent people."  
  
"They're your brothers and sisters. Don't you see the resemblance? Don't you care about them?"  
  
"I'm not like them!"  
  
"So they're not like you. They don't have souls yet. I guess that means they lack the right to live." Garland was yelling now. He snatched one of the genomes from its working place and took it in his arms. Kuja heard a sudden crack followed by a loud thump. The genome was down on the ground. Its neck was twisted in an unusual position, and its tail gave a final twitch before giving into the sudden death. And all poor Kuja could do was stare. Garland was yelling again, but Kuja was too preoccupied with the cruel death of his fellow genome to pay any attention. He did manage to catch the last of what Garland was saying when he pulled away from his disturbed stare. "They'll all die! Is that what you want?!"  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Sorry that it took me forever to get this posted. It should probably be longer for all the time it took, but oh well. That's life. I'm so tired right now. I was up late trying to finish this since I actually got my self to sit down with my computer. Me and the t.v. have had a lot of bonding time (mainly because I've been avoiding my biology homework), so my computer hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Anyway, please read and review (it's amazing how I always manage to remember to put that last part into this little paragraph at the bottom of every chapter).  
  
-Insomniac- 


	7. High Fashion

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX...Squaresoft...All rights reserved...Nuf said.  
  
Chapter 7: Never Again  
  
"Kuja," Zidane shouted over and over again while frantically searching under the beds and in the closet. "Kuja, where are you." The old married couple stood back and watched with occasional movement to get out of the way of Zidane's futile searching.  
  
"I didn't hear him leave. I don't understand how he could've just disappeared without me knowing," the old man said apologetically.  
  
"You sleep like a rock. Of course you didn't hear him," his wife argued.  
  
"I guess I have to sleep like a rock to sleep through your snoring.  
  
"Kuja!" Zidane yelled again, interrupting the old couple's arguing. The stopped talking and turned around to look at him.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, honey," the woman apologized. "You can stay at our home until you are able to find him if you like."  
  
"No, I wanna go find him."  
  
"At least let me get you some new clothes."  
  
"Ok," he answered hesitantly. Zidane looked down at his tattered blue jumpsuit he had been forced to wear for years. A new wardrobe didn't sound half bad even though he had more important things to worry about.  
  
The old woman nodded her head and walked over to the corner to pick up her bag. She motioned Zidane and her husband to follow her. "Our house really isn't that far," she said after a while of walking. "We had just come back from Alexandria and were just so tired of walking. And it was late too. Howard here had to stay up past his bed time." Her husband gave her an irritated look before she continued. "That's why we felt so guilty for taking the last room. You needed it a lot more than we did since our house is so close."  
  
Unable to control his curiosity and trying to be polite at the same time, Zidane tried to keep the conversation going. "What's Alexandria?"  
  
"You don't know? It's a country north of here. We were visiting some relatives there. And you wouldn't believe the rumors that are floating around that place. They said that the Princess Garnet is dead. Now, can you believe that? She was a little sick, but she recovered. My sister Ellie told me that her husband said that it was a hoax and Princess Garnet wasn't really alive. He thinks that they got a replacement princess. And I told him, I said, 'Ron, how could they find an exact replica of Princess Garnet on such short notice.' He just argued with me. Then I told him-"  
  
"Millie! You're talking the poor boy's ear off!" Howard complained.  
  
"Well, he asked."  
  
"He asked what Alexandria was, not about your visit with your sister."  
  
"Oh, Howard!" she sighed before continuing again. "As I was saying, I told Ron-"  
  
"Oh look, we're home!" Howard interrupted. He opened the door and Millie shuffled in past him and toward the closet.  
  
"I know there should be some clothes that fit you in here somewhere," she said while rummaging through all of her belongings. "We have a son that was about your size when he was your age. I never threw away any of his things."  
  
"Even though you should've," Howard commented as he walked up behind her.  
  
"You never know when you might need some of those things again," she answered while handing him a box that she had dug out from the back of the closet.  
  
"You never know when we might need more storage space either."  
  
She ignored his last comment and continued her search. "Here we go," she said while pulling out another dusty outfit from the back of the closet. She held it up next to Zidane's neck to see if it would fit. "Perfect!" She batted at it to get some of the dust off before handing it to Zidane. "Go into the bathroom over there and try this on," she ordered while pointing to the door at the top of the stairway. "It may be a little dusty, but it'll air out after a little while. I know how you kids like to run around like you're being chased by chocobos."  
  
He started up the stairs with one hand on the railing and the other hand clutching the crumpled up pieces of clothes. It wasn't long before he came out of the bathroom and started walking clumsily back down the stairs with his new outfit on.  
  
"How does it fit?" Millie asked when he reached the bottom. "Is it too big? Too small? I see you're walking kinda funny."  
  
"It fits fine," he answered, "but I don't know where to put my tail."  
  
"Oh! How could I forget about that?" She started giggling and turned back to the closet. She pulled out another piece of clothing, this time a pair of jeans. She sat down at a table in the middle of the room and started to make some adjustments. "Try this," she instructed. He took the pants from her hands and carefully trotted back up the stairs to the bathroom. He came back out smiling. "Is that better," she said cheerfully patting on his head. "What do you want me to do with your old clothes? I could stitch them up if you like."  
  
"No, that's ok." He handed her his tattered blue jumpsuit. "Keep it to remember me by."  
  
"There are a few things in the pockets. Do you want them back?"  
  
"I had stuff in my pockets?" he answered while straining to remember what they might be.  
  
"Mostly link, but there's a piece of paper in here you might want," she said while pulling out the paper and handing it to him. He put it in his current back pocket without looking at it.  
  
"I should probably go now. I need to find Kuja."  
  
"You need to come and visit us when you find him." She dusted him off one last time and gave him a hug before he left.  
  
"They grow up so fast, don't they," Howard said sarcastically. "You're not going to get all watery eyed, are you?"  
  
"I'm just going to miss him...He was just so darling."  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I so happy that I finally got my computer working! .....Don't ask, It's a long story. In the famous words of my computer illiterate friend...To err is human but to really screw things up requires a computer. I had a whole day to work on this chapter. School was cancelled yesterday because of snow. Well, not really snow. I didn't get to play in the snow. It's more like freezing rain that turns your whole street into a skating rink. Again, I'm happy. Two hour delay this morning because of fog. Sleeping in today! HORAY! Have a test that I'm probably going to fail today. Why can't we just get cancelled again?  
  
-Insomniac- 


	8. Hooligans

Disclaimer: If I'm ever able to own Final Fantasy IX...then I'll take over the world. But until then, I'm stuck writing stories for your amusement.  
  
Chapter 8: Never Again  
  
Zidane leaned against a wall to rest. He had searched for his missing brother the whole day and had found nothing. Once he had discovered how the aircabs worked, he was able to search three out of the four districts in Lindblum. First, he searched the rest of the business district, where he had started out at the old couple's house. He found the aircab station opposite of the inn and took a few rides on it before he ended up at the industrial district. It was smaller and easier to search, but he found nothing there. He played on the aircabs again before he going to Lindblum castle. He would've been able to search the whole castle if the guards wouldn't have forbidden him to go any further. He played on the aircabs for a third time and finished the day searching in the theater district. He had to stop his search because of the lack of light.  
  
Exhaustion and hunger had tormented him throughout the day, but he was able to endure it. Now that the day was over and he had given in to his exhaustion, his hunger was starting to get to him. He tried to get some food from some of the stores and restaurants in town, but they shooed him away because he didn't have any money. Zidane's back slid down the wall until he was in a sitting position. His stomach started grumbling in disagreement.  
  
"I wish I would've eaten at Millie's house this morning while I had the chance," he thought to himself. "Maybe I should go and visit." He looked to his left and then to his right. "I wish I knew where it was."  
  
He stood up again and headed down the street toward the closest store he knew of. It was a small corner grocery store next to the theater district's aircab station. He heard the bell ringing from the door as he entered. The sleeping woman at the counter snapped awake when the bell rang a second time as the door was closing. "Can I help you...uh...sir?" she asked. She turned up her nose at him when she got a closer look at him and his unusual appendage.  
  
Zidane quickly eyed the shelves. "Got any food?" he asked as his tail swished inquisitively.  
  
"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do. Got any money?" the woman answered shrewdly. Zidane looked surprised and confused at her response. He tried to give her an explanation, but all that came out was a series of stutters that the store clerk quickly cut off. "I thought not. Now please leave, you little hooligan. I don't like your kind in my store."  
  
"But all I want is something to eat. Is that so wrong?" Zidane argued again.  
  
"I don't care! Why don't you get something to eat from one of your little 'friends' instead of harassing my shop?!"  
  
"Wha-?"  
  
"Please leave before I call someone to take you away! How much is the reward for one of you little thieves anymore? There's just so many of them now a days."  
  
"Thieves?...I haven't stolen anything!" Zidane stammered. He was getting a little worried with the woman's accusations.  
  
"I've been more than patient with you! Leave!" The woman was beyond yelling and was creeping over the line to being hysterical. He saw her reach for something behind the counter. Probably something to use as a weapon. He looked closely and saw that it was a broom. She started to raise it causing Zidane to back up slowly toward the door. He wanted to be far away when she started to swing.  
  
He scowled at her once more before leaving, and then scowled at the bell that mocked him as he opened the door. His stomach rumbled in disagreement of his decision to leave the store where the food resided. "Stupid, grumpy, old lady. I never stole anything," he mumbled to himself. "Why do I need money to eat anyway?" He sighed as his stomach started to rumble again. "I'm so hungry!"  
  
The infamous bell rang again, so Zidane ducked behind the wall to keep a safe distance from the judgmental store clerk. He watched her as she locked up the store and put the keys into her bulging coat pocket. Then she started to walk away from her store and towards Zidane's hiding place. Zidane panicked. He didn't want her to catch him and take him to god knows where so she could get her reward. "What kind of sick world makes people catch other people for a reward?" he thought to himself.  
  
When she was just inches away from him, he found out that he wasn't the only one that was watching the woman. A young boy, about his age, was sneaking up behind her. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go!" she yelled. He realized that the woman was talking to him instead of the other boy who was currently creeping up behind her. He was panicking even worse now, and breathing was starting to become an issue. He had already been holding his breath for quite some time. Now the woman had him trapped. His worse fear kept coming back to him when he was trying to figure out an escaped plan.  
  
"She's going to catch me for sure."  
  
Meanwhile, the other boy decided to take advantage of the woman's attention towards Zidane instead of trying to help him. His tiny hand reached into her pocket and carefully pulled out a bag of coins. The woman whirled around just as the boy took off. "I knew you were one of those little hooligans!" the woman yelled at him. Then, even louder than before, she called for help. "THIEVES! SOMEONE HELP!"  
  
Zidane decided to run just like the other boy had. Two men had already showed up and were in pursuit of the other boy. It seemed that the other boy got away, but Zidane didn't know if his chances of escaping were as good. His thoughts didn't keep him from running, fortunately. He heard the woman's yelling grow softer as the distance between them was growing longer. "Go get the other one! He went that way!"  
  
"Please leave me alone!" he pleaded quietly to himself. "I wish I knew where Kuja was."  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Whew! I finally got that chapter done. It's been a long break (not that that's a bad thing), and I've barely touched my computer. Great to be back. I think this weekend was more exciting than my whole break, ironically. First the Bucks win the Fiesta Bowl (GO BUCKS!), and now my neighbor's barn is burning down (told ya it was an exciting weekend). It's been burning for a while now, and the fire department just showed up. That's the price we pay for living so far out in the country. I don't think anyone's hurt, though. Anyway, on with our lives, sorry to all the Kuja fans out there, but this was another Zidane chapter. It's probably going to take awhile before figure out where the stories going to go next. Stupid writer's block! You'd think with all this stuff going on it would give me some kind of inspiration, but no. *Sigh* Hmmmm...it feels like I'm missing something...Oh yeah! Read and Review! 


	9. Lindblum's Finest

Disclaimer: Why do I even bother with this anymore?  
  
Chapter 9: Never Again  
  
Zidane woke up in a back alley that morning. His was still hungry, and was now aching from head to toe from sleeping against a wall. It didn't seem to bother him, though. He was just happy to get away from the angry store clerk and the two men who where chasing him. He carefully tired to stand up on his own two feet. It proved to be more difficult than he had expected. He had gotten cramps in his legs from crouching behind trashcans and walls when he was hiding from the two men that had started chasing him.  
  
He decided to give up his futile search for his older brother for the time being and went to search for food instead. He went to the aircab station first and rode to the business district. There were more shops to get food from there. The theater district only had one, and he was never going try that one again. He continued to walk along the main street of the business district to nowhere in particular. He still didn't know the town very well, even though he spent the whole day before searching aimlessly through it.  
  
"Hey, kid! Free sample!" a man called out to him as he walked by. Zidane turned around to look at him. "Free sample, kiddo! Wanna try one?"  
  
"What are they?" he asked as he slowly walked toward the man's stand.  
  
"Gyshil pickles, Lindblum's delicacy!" the man answered as he motioned to his unusual merchandise. He picked up one out of the cart and handed it to Zidane. "Go ahead!"  
  
He took it without a word and examined it closely. "Bleh! It smells awful! Are you sure this food is still good? It smells like it's rotten."  
  
"The worse it smells, the better it tastes!" the man laughed.  
  
Zidane looked it over again before he closed his eyes and took a bite. "Hey, not bad!" The man at the cart gave him a quick I-told-you-so smile. "Can I have another one?" Zidane said - trying to take advantage of the man's giving attitude.  
  
"Sorry, only one free sample per customer."  
  
Zidane thought to himself for a moment before answering. "But that wasn't a free sample! It was a test to see whether I liked them or not," he argued finally. His was good at arguing and making up excuses from all the practice he got when fighting with his older brother. Kuja seemed to win most of the arguments, unfortunately. He must have had a lot of practicing from arguing with Garland. This particular argument with the man at the pickle stand seemed to work out to Zidane's advantage.  
  
"Fine, but you're gonna have to pay for the next one," the man said as he let Zidane help himself to another pickle. Because of his hunger, Zidane tried to pick out the biggest one. Unfortunately, a pickle wasn't going to be enough to sustain his hunger. He needed to find a way to get some money.  
  
"STOP THIEF!" a voice in the not-so-distant distance yelled out. Zidane stiffened upon hearing it. Last time he heard it, he was spending the rest of the night running and hiding from two complete strangers.  
  
The man at the pickle stand must have noticed Zidane's sudden discomfort. "In trouble with the law, kiddo?" Zidane quickly shook his head "no", hoping he could get at least one person to believe him.  
  
He noticed that the same boy from the night before was the culprit and was already avoiding his pursuers as he ran down an alley. "Look! There's another one!" To Zidane's surprise, he was being falsely accused again! Someone from behind grabbed a hold of his arm. Zidane easily struggled it loose but lost half of his pickle in the process. He started to run toward the same alley that the other boy had used to escape. By some odd twist of fate, he might be able to catch up with the real thief, and the people might go after him instead.  
  
Zidane accidentally skidded into and knocked over a fruit stand on the way to the alley, which slowed him down a bit, but gave him a more useful opportunity. Seeing that the his first theory of catching up with the thief was more or less a dud, he took a couple of pieces of the fruit that fell from the stand. If he was going to be accused of stealing and then be chased around all the time because of it, he might as well be guilty of it. And how many times a day does much needed food just fall into your lap?  
  
Zidane stood up, dusted himself off, dusted off his fruit, and continued to run. Surprisingly, his pursuers were not able to catch him despite his untimely fall, but they were gaining on him - fast.  
  
Zidane knew this: As a rule of thumb, chases always have obstacles. First the accident at the fruit stand, and now, a fork in the road was coming up. He had a split second to guess which way the other thief went. It didn't matter much if he picked wrong, of course, since he had already discarded the idea that the people would catch the other thief instead of going after him.  
  
His split second was up. Zidane found himself going to the right. No thought involved with this decision, what so ever. And it was a good decision, too, but sadly, it was too late. An angry shopkeeper had his hand wrapped tightly around Zidane's tail. He yanked it with such a force that everything spilled out of Zidane's hands and caused Zidane to fall to the ground along with everything else.  
  
Zidane let out a small sigh. A reaction to panic rather than your usual sigh of relief. "It's all over for me now."  
  
  
  
Author's Note: To answer some questions people have been having: Zidane will read the note Kuja wrote him, eventually. Night now, Zidane doesn't know that the piece of paper is a note from Kuja and has some significance, only me, the readers, Kuja, and possibly Garland do. I don't think Zidane even remembers that the note is in his pocket. These last couple chapters seem to focus on Zidane becoming a kleptomaniac, rather than him finding out what happened to Kuja. I hope that clears some things up a little bit, but it probably just confused people more. Oh, and if I failed to answer any questions, it's probably because I don't really know the answer, myself (warning, sarcasm coming up). I'm just so organized with my writing! Anyway, Read & Review!...or I'll cry...*Sniff* *Tear*  
  
-Insomniac- 


	10. Fruit Wars

Discaimer: I've run out of things to say in this space. I hate being repetitive, but...I do not own Final Fantasy IX.  
  
Chapter 10: Never Again  
  
"Let go of me!" were the words screaming in his head, but nothing actually managed to come out except for a couple of squeaks. It was no help, of course. He didn't know how to make squeaks sound intimidating.  
  
He noticed that the pain emitting from his tail was starting to become unbearable as the shopkeeper squeezed even harder so Zidane would not be able to shake it loose. He was already on the ground. How far did the shopkeeper expect him to go?  
  
Just then he saw an orange come whizzing past his head and hit the shopkeeper right in-between the eyes. "Am I hallucinating, or is it raining fruit?" he thought to himself dizzily. "No. The pain can't be so bad that I'm hallucinating. I've been though worse, haven't I?" Another piece of fruit few by him. This time it was a pear. He felt the shopkeeper let go of his tail to try and use his hands as a shield from the flying fruit.  
  
Zidane quickly looked up to see where the fruit was coming from. To his surprise, he saw the same thief that had gotten him in trouble standing a few yards away hurling his own batch of fruit. Unfortunately, he was still too far away to get a good look at him. Zidane scrambled up and started to run before the shopkeeper recuperated from the assault. He stopped when his saw some of his own fruit lying conveniently next to his foot...  
  
The other boy was doing a good job holding off the shopkeeper while Zidane tried to escape, which he greatly appreciated, but he wanted to care of some things by himself for once instead of having to run away or having someone else rescue him. He picked up the fruit next to his foot - a tomato, what luck. He took a few steps closer to the shopkeeper with his tomato in hand. The shopkeeper was still using his hands as a shield but tried to pull them away from his face when his saw Zidane approaching him.  
  
The next thing he knew, squish! The shopkeeper was left utterly blind and vulnerable from the juice. Zidane dodged around the man's flailing arms and managed to sneak a small bag of coins from his back pocket.  
  
Zidane then took off in the opposite direction of the other thief while giving him a polite "thank you" wave. He felt kind of guilty because the shopkeeper started to chase the other boy when his eyes were cleared of the tomato juice, and there was nothing Zidane could do to help him. Zidane could barely help himself.  
  
A few minutes later, when he was sure he had lost his pursuers, he stopped to rest. He was panting heavily after all the running he was forced to do. "I never got into this much trouble when I was back in Terra," he grumbled softly to himself. He looked down at his tail to see if it was ok. It ached a little from the shopkeepers abuse to it, and the fur was all ruffled out of place. "Why did he have to go for my tail? That's so low!" he whined to himself while he tried to use his hand to smooth the fur back in place.  
  
He saw the pouch of money he had stolen from the shopkeeper in his hand and decided to put it somewhere safe. He started toward his back pocket before he realized that his paper was still in there.  
  
"What's this?" he said to himself idly as his hand found the small piece of notepaper and pulled it out of his pocket. "Huh, I forgot this was in there," he said again as he examined the letter closer. He unfolded it carefully and noticed it was a letter addressed to himself.  
  
"Dear Zidane," he read. "I'm sorry that I had to leave you here, but you have to understand it was for your own good. I didn't want you to have to go back to that place and live that kind of life. You don't deserve that kind of torment. No one does. I also want you to know that this is not goodbye. I'm going to come back for you, although I don't know when."  
  
Zidane finished reading and stood with his mouth wide open for the next five minutes. When the shock had finally started to go down a little, he tucked the letter back into his back pocket along with the money he had stolen and found a comfy piece of ground to wait out the rest of the day on.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I know it's been ages since I last update, but I didn't really have a choice. Semester exams really brought me behind, and now I'm supposed to write a short story for my English class. It's taking up all my spare writing time (what little spare writing time I actually have). Sorry that this finally updated chapter is so short, but I hit a writer's block and it won. I'm also sorry for the Kuja fans. The next chapter will definitely be a Kuja chapter. I've already gotten some ideas for it (but of course they're not written down). And by the way, for this world, a tomato is going to be a fruit. I've heard arguments for it being a fruit and a vegetable, but I'll say it's a fruit for the sake of this (SHORT) chapter.....Read and Review!  
  
-Insomniac- 


	11. Futile Experiment No 1

Disclaimer: This is me, disclaiming Final Fantasy IX.  
  
Never Again: Chapter 11  
  
"Wake up, Kuja," Garland's sinister voice welcomed Kuja's morning.  
  
"Were you watching me sleep again?" Kuja moaned aloud. "Last time you did that, I found out about some of you disturbing plans. Now how is that fair?"  
  
"You catch on quickly, Kuja. Now come with me," Garland commanded. Kuja struggled to full consciousness and rolled out of bed.  
  
When Garland noticed that Kuja was finally up, he left the room motioning Kuja to follow. He did so cautiously, keeping as much distance as possible between him and Garland but not so much distance that he would lose him. Then he led him to a room unfamiliar to Kuja.  
  
"Huh...what's this place?" Kuja said to Garland before he realized that Garland had disappeared and that he was locked in the room. He spun around a few times to see if his eyes were tricking him or if his paranoia was getting the best of him. "What's going on?" he called out to the empty room when he was completely convinced that Garland was nowhere to be found.  
  
"Nothing," Kuja heard Garland say. He spun around again, hoping he would see something besides a blank wall. Not to his surprise, nothing there.  
  
"Could you be more specific besides 'nothing'?" he called out again.  
  
"Just a simple experiment. Stand still!" Garland's voice instructed.  
  
"Somehow, I just don't trust you," Kuja answered, trying to stall Garland's experiment as much as possible.  
  
"To bad."  
  
"Why do I have to be the guinea pig in your little experiment?" Kuja continued to stall. Garland didn't answer. "What are you going to do?" he asked a little louder just in case Garland hadn't heard him. But still no answer. "...Garland? Why won't you answer me?"  
  
Unsurely, Kuja prepared for Garland's experiment by getting into a fighting stance. He wanted to be able to cast a spell on a second's notice just in case the situation required it. Knowing Garland, the situation probably would require it. He expected Garland to sic giant monster on him or put him though some other incredibly difficult, inane task. He stood unmoving with his eyes scanning the room for a few minutes before anything happened. Then he heard a very faint sound. He tilted his head from side to side so he could pick up on the sound better. It became unnecessary to tilt his head a few seconds later, since the sound seemed to gradually get louder.  
  
"What kind of experiment is this?" Kuja asked suspiciously, but not really expecting an answer.  
  
The sound kept getting louder, but Kuja still couldn't identify where it was coming from. All he knew was that it was a high-pitched noise that was annoying, but not necessarily painful...yet. He also noticed that the sound was starting to change a little more. Not only was it getting progressively louder, but the pitch was getting higher too. He covered his ears when the noise started to become unbearably annoying, only to realize that it could not be blocked from the outside. This noise seemed to come from inside of his head. He clutched his head even harder, hoping that his effort would have some kind of effect. Then he remembered that it wouldn't be Garland if his experiment wasn't incredibly painful and incredibly difficult.  
  
"Garland, stop it!" Kuja finally yelled, even though he could barely hear himself over the noise. "Ok...I give up. You can stop the noise now! ...Garland? ...Stop!"  
  
Kuja ran toward where the door used to be and started to pound on the wall with his fists while yelling out to Garland. Unfortunately, all of his screams and pleas were completely incoherent. The noise had consumed them. Fortunately, the noise stopped getting louder and more high pitched, but it didn't help Kuja's head. Garland had set it at an uncomfortable level and waited for it to potentially drain the life right out of Kuja.  
  
Eventually, Kuja had stopped pounding and screaming, and now he was on his knees, clutching his head. Standing took too much energy. Through all that, only one thought could penetrate the noise: "Just play dead! Maybe he'll stop the noise if he thinks you're dead!"  
  
Kuja laid himself down on the ground as gently as he possibly could while still trying to make his falling dead act look as believable as he could make it. He didn't want to hurt himself anymore; the pain from the noise was enough. He lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to keep a strait face. He had to keep his act up even though he was really wincing in pain on the inside.  
  
When the noise did not stop, Kuja's thoughts took a turn for the worst. "What if Garland knows that I'm not really dead...that I'm just faking it. Would he make my sentence worse for trying to deceive? Does he really expect to kill me with this noise?"  
  
The noise started to get softer and the pitch was going down. It was a slow and gradual process of finally disappearing from Kuja's head, but not as slow of a process as it took to get the sound in his head in the first place. Kuja didn't mind. He was just glad that it was leaving. He broke his act to let out a sigh of relief, but threw a party on the inside.  
  
He heard the door next to him open and then heard Garland enter. He inched closer to Kuja's limp fallen body and started to nudge his shoulder with the tip of shoe. The chill from Garland's metal toe bothered Kuja, but not enough to get him to move from his peaceful state. "Stop poking me, you freak! Can't you see that I'm dead?!" Kuja joked to himself - his biggest fear being that Garland would've hear his thoughts and punished him for it.  
  
Garland, angry with Kuja's refusal to wake, bent over and started to shake Kuja with his hand. "Kuja, I don't have time for this nonsense! Wake up!"  
  
"Just let me sleep."  
Author's Note: I'm finally done with a chapter!!! Oh happy day! And I'm gonna dedicate this chapter to someone too! This chapter is dedicated to the weather (honestly, who did you expect me to dedicate it to?). Because of the weather, school was cancelled, and I was trapped at home. That's the only reason that I got this chapter done in the first place. Unfortunately, staying inside too much has caused me to go insane. But don't worry, I'll be ok. I would've gone insane anyway if I were forced to go to school this morning instead of staying home and sleeping in, so it's all good. I also got to have some hot cocoa. That should help my insanity out a little.  
  
-Insomniac- 


	12. Explain

Disclaimer: I'm not special enough to own something as big as Final Fantasy IX :(  
  
Never Again: Chapter 12  
  
"I'm not going to tell you again! Wake up, Kuja!" Garland yelled at the sleeping genome that was drawing out his sleep act as long as he could. A sharp kick to the ribs made Garland's message clearer than it had ever been before, but sent Kuja rolling over and over again in pain.  
  
Kuja struggled to an upright sitting position while holding his side tightly for fear that it would fall off. He also managed to squeak out a few not-so-intimidating interrogations. "What was that for?" he spat softly.  
  
"I told you to wake up...You didn't wake up," Garland answered smoothly.  
  
"Not that! The noise thing! What was the significance of me going through that?"  
  
"I told you; it was an experiment," Garland answered again.  
  
"That answers not good enough!" Kuja argued a little louder.  
  
"I did it to help you. Ever since you came back, you've seemed to be getting weaker."  
  
"How does blowing my eardrums out justify my weaknesses?" Kuja retorted.  
  
"Your weakness is coming from either laziness, or some kind of emotional detachment. I believe the ladder seems to be the culprit, so I sent the noise through your head to bring your mind away from whatever's bothering you."  
  
"...Brainwashing?"  
  
"In that many words...yes."  
  
Kuja eyed him over while still clutching at the pain in his side inflicted by Garland. Unfortunately, no matter how much he looked at Garland, he was never able to comprehend him. "How exactly does noise classify as brainwashing?"  
  
"You'd be surprised how effective it is...well, how effective it usually is," Garland answered with a grin.  
  
"Really," Kuja replied in his I'm-not-really-interested-in-this- conversation-and-I-think-you're-full-of-it voice. He carefully got to his feet while holding onto his side and started to walk away before making his final cliché. "No matter how hard you try to brainwash me, you'll never get me to forget how much I hate you."  
  
Kuja made his way out of the room while Garland watched, speechless from Kuja's attitude. When he noticed that Garland was starting to follow, he cast a Barrier spell on the doorway and chuckled softly to himself when Garland ran into it. He laughed even harder when he saw that Garland was cursing himself for having difficulty removing the spell. He made his way back to his lousy excuse for a bedroom so he could get the sleep he was deprived that morning. Unfortunately, Garland waltzed in a few minutes later.  
  
"I thought I'd find you here..." Garland sneered. Kuja didn't answer him. He didn't even look up at him. He closed his eyes and tried to drift off regardless of Garland's incessant whining. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"  
  
"So do you," Kuja answered in a monotone voice. "Finally, something we have in common."  
  
Garland put on a fake smile and continued his argument. "Yes, very clever. I suppose you thought that barrier was pretty funny."  
  
"You're the one who said that I wasn't powerful enough! I guess I proved you wrong."  
  
"I was still able to get through it..." Garland laughed.  
  
"It took you awhile."  
  
"I don't know why I-" Garland started to vent but was interrupted by the sound of Kuja's over-exaggerated yawning.  
  
"You won't let me sleep, will you?"  
  
"Get up!" Garland demanded. Kuja's eyes snapped open and he finally looked up at Garland with a confused look on his face. "You heard me. Get up! I'm not going to let you sleep." Kuja continued to stare at him with a blank stare on his face. "What are you looking at me like that for? I meant what I said. No sleep for you, so get up."  
  
"Fine, I'm up," Kuja answered as he got up from his resting position and sat back down again. "Now I'm not. You can leave now."  
  
"You know, I think I should put you to work. Maybe it'll clear your mind," Garland pondered to himself.  
  
"I already told you, there's nothing wrong with my magic. Do you want me to prove it to you?" Garland turned away from his thoughts, taking an interest in Kuja's claim to "prove it" to him. Meanwhile, Kuja was looking him over, almost like he was sizing him up. Garland answered to Kuja's pathetic challenge by casting a spell that's blast threw Kuja against the wall like a rag doll. Kuja struggled to his feet while giving Garland a death glare. "That's not fair! I wasn't ready."  
  
"It doesn't matter. You should always be ready. It goes with power, so if you say you're not ready, you basically just said that you weren't powerful enough."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"You know, putting you to work still doesn't seem like such a bad idea. It's been awhile since anyone's mopped the floor in the lab and I've got a small storage problem in the airship docks." Kuja rolled his eyes and turned away back towards his bed. "Get to work, Kuja!"  
  
"Get to work, Kuja!" Kuja mocked. "I wouldn't want to anger the 'great Garland', ruler of his own deranged imagination and all who choose to live inside it." He attempted to cast a fire spell on the back of Garland's head, but it fizzled out with a wave of Garland's hand.  
  
"You never learn," Garland said proudly. He was actually pulling off the proud and powerful look until he was interrupted by a flying pillow to the face, and when he turned around to reprimand the thrower, he saw that Kuja had already left the room.  
Author's Note: Yeah! It's spring break! My spring break, anyway. The snow's finally gone too. For a second there, I thought that the groundhog had died and it would be winter forever. But no! He didn't die! I'm so happy. It got up to 40 degrees (Fahrenheit). Yeah, I know 40 is not that warm, but it's been in the -10's for awhile now. Negative temperatures are really cold. Burrrrrrrrr.  
  
-Insomniac- 


	13. Futile Experiment No 2

Disclaimer: I do not own them Sam I am (I don't own the Dr. Seuss (however you spell that) thing either).  
  
Never Again: Chapter 13  
  
Despite the fact that Kuja had become Garland's personal housemaid for the past week, Kuja was having a lot of fun. Cleaning for Garland seemed to have some advantages, mainly because the personal slave gained access to Garland's personal chambers - a perfect place for Kuja to work his more unorthodox magic skills. Kuja loved his unorthodox magic better than the regular magic that Garland had taught him. Garland, on the other hand, hated it. Kuja first got the impression that Garland didn't like them when Garland found that all the clothes from his closet were moved to the lake in the middle of Bran Bal. Then he started yelling at Kuja for it. Kuja simply answered, "You said you wanted me to clean out your closet. It's spotless!" That remark cost Kuja a meal and a soft bed. Garland made his spend the night fishing his clothes out of the lake.  
  
Even though he didn't like the punishments, Kuja continued with his unorthodox magic. He heard a yell and realized that Garland had found Kuja's latest prank. Garland's bed was lined with shreddings of some papers Kuja had found in the lab. Kuja smiled and continued dusting like the "innocent" housemaid he was. Then he heard a door fly open from behind him follow by a slur of angry rantings.  
  
"You called, 'Master' Garland?" Kuja answered without turning around to face him. Garland, however, did not give Kuja a response that was near as civilized as Kuja's. He responded by forcing Kuja up against a wall, wrapping his hands around his throat, and yelling at him until they were both blue in the face.  
  
Kuja was not listening to a word of Garland's rantings. He was too busy trying to find a way out of Garland's grasp. He expected Garland to let go after awhile, but now Kuja was really starting to suffer from the lack of oxygen and was getting too dizzy to see straight. Unfortunately, his attempts at kicking Garland away were completely useless since Kuja's kicks were getting weaker by the second. His magic didn't work very well either since he wasn't able to concentrate. Then he tried yelling back. "Let go, psycho!"  
  
As soon as he finally manage to yell something, he felt Garland loosen his grasp and then bring his hands away from his throat altogether. Kuja turned away from Garland and started coughing and gasping for air. "I wouldn't have had to strangle you if you didn't destroy all my work!" Garland said while raising his hands as if he were going to start strangling Kuja again.  
  
"Oh, it was your work? I hadn't noticed," Kuja coughed.  
  
"Even if it wasn't my work, there was no reason for you to rip it up and put it in my bed."  
  
"You told me to clean up the lab," Kuja answered innocently. "I saw the mess of papers on one of the desks and decided to get rid of it, so I put it where the trash normally goes." Garland gave him a strange look. Either he was really good at holding in his anger or he didn't get Kuja's joke. It was probably the ladder. "Now let's see...What's my next chore?" Kuja thought outloud.  
  
"Why don't you go another round in the noise experiment? For discipline purposes, this time," Garland remarked.  
  
"Sweeping, that's what it was!" Kuja answered himself, completely ignoring Garland. "Say Garland, can I borrow your broom? Never mind, I could always get on my hand and knees and clean the floor with a tissue. That should be fun!" Kuja left the room and Garland stayed behind, gently massaging his temples.  
  
By the time dinner rolled around, Kuja was almost done sweeping. Garland was in an unusually friendly mood that evening and let Kuja stop cleaning so he could get a meal. Kuja, however, though Garland's random act of kindness was somewhat suspicious, since he was so mad about the papers. Kuja kept his distance. He didn't speak and he definitely didn't try to make eye contact. His evasion techniques became more difficult towards the end of the meal, since Garland's unusually happy mood had called for some serious questioning.  
  
Kuja had just finished his meal when Garland had put another plate in front of his face. "What's this?" Kuja asked suspiciously.  
  
"Dessert, what does it look like?"  
  
"I didn't even know that word was even in your vocabulary. You never give me dessert."  
  
"Aren't I allowed to be nice once in awhile?" Garland answered with a smirk. Kuja started to examine his "dessert" carefully.  
  
"This isn't drugged is it?" Kuja said while sniffing at it.  
  
"I really thought we got off to a bad start this morning..." Garland said, completely ignoring Kuja's comment.  
  
"Oh my God! It really is drugged!" Kuja said while starting to back away from his food.  
  
"...So I decided to make it up to you..." Garland continued.  
  
"I can't believe that you'd stoop so low as to drug me!" Kuja yelled while stomping out of the room.  
  
"...No need to thank - Kuja? Where are you going?" Garland said when he finally realized that Kuja had left the table. He started to follow until Kuja snapped back at him.  
  
"Just leave me alone!"  
Author's Note: Hurray for me! I got another chapter done! (and you're thinking 'who really cares?') Anyway...uh...um...I'm too tired to think right now. Sure it's only 6:30 (p.m.), but I think I need a nap (and some sugar...ummm...sugar). That kinda explains this crappy chapter. I tried to get it done fast, but I'm too tired (and lazy). And let's not forget to mention the fact that my busload of homework is over in the corner taunting me. 


	14. SMACK

Disclaimer: ...um...Disclaimer...Ta da!  
  
Never Again: Chapter 14  
  
After six months of living on his own, Zidane was finally getting the hang of independent life. Surprising even to himself, independent life meant living off of the things he stole. He started out his thieving career with simple pick pocketing, mostly in big crowds where no one would think any different if someone would "accidentally" bump into you. As his skill and confidence grew, he could snatch a wallet off of a lone person in a dark corner and disappear before the victim knew what hit him. He was also able to swipe a few necessities from the general store, but he usually had to buy something along with his stolen possession so he wouldn't look too suspicious.  
  
After six months of living in Lindblum, he also knew the whole city like the back of his hand. He even found out where Millie and Howard's house was. He was thinking about visiting the nice old woman and her husband, but guilt struck him down. He felt ashamed of what he had been reduced to. He didn't want Millie to see him like the thief that he was. This sounds like a lot of thinking for someone so young, but when you're alone, you have to grow up pretty fast. So, he obviously passed up the opportunity of living with them until he was officially old enough to be living on his own. Instead, he spent his nights sleeping on the floor of the church in the industrial district. People usually didn't bother him there; it was a church. People there thought he had as much right to be there as they do.  
  
The best part about living in the church was not just fact that people would leave him alone when he slept; there was a pub next door where he could get "free" breakfast. Every morning Zidane would visit a man he had dubbed "Pops" and would order his breakfast. This is where the clever skills of a thief came in. Zidane would eat especially slow and try to start a civilized conversation with Pops. If Zidane played his cards right, Pops would talk so much that he would forget if Zidane had paid him for the meal or not. This worked on some occasions, but most of the time Zidane had to pay with the money that he stole from the person sitting next to him.  
  
Aside from the self-loathing, life was going pretty well for Zidane. Zidane's official plan for today was to suck up his fear and improve his thieving skills by stealing from the local store without having to buy something along with it. It took a lot of preparation time before Zidane would attempt the task. No matter how hard he tried, his face didn't look innocent enough. His nervousness didn't help very much, either.  
  
Zidane looked at the clock through the window of the store he was about to steal from and took mental note of the time. He wanted to remember it for something that resembled a scrapbook. "6:47, I've wasted enough time. It's now or never," he said to himself while heading off towards his destination.  
  
His destination just happened to be a weapon shop. The things in there were usually too big to fit in his pocket or stuff under his shirt. This was a true challenge. He started to browse around for something nice. "If I'm gonna do this, I might as well do it right," he thought to himself. A glint of silver caught his eye as he made his way closer to the shelves lined with various weapons. "Nice daggers. Now what do I do?" He quickly glanced at the shopkeeper who was boredly eyeing the other customers, waiting for someone who needed his help or was going to buy something. "The perimeter is heavily guarded," he joked to himself. "But I still need a distraction..."  
  
Zidane then noticed the rack of weapon polish and polishing rags a few feet away from him and came up with an idea. He pondered it for a moment before making his final decision. "It's not like people have time to sit there and polish their weapons anyway..." He casually walked over to the rack and "accidentally" tripped and knocked the whole thing over. The loud crash had brought him attention from the entire store, including the shopkeeper who started to head toward him to clean up the mess. "Oops," Zidane said out loud while he tried on his most innocent face. The customers turned their glances away from him and back toward their own business. "I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you with that," Zidane said while starting to kneel down in an attempt to clean the mass of broken bottles and spilt polish.  
  
"No...Uh...no. Just leave it to me. It's my job after all," the shopkeeper answered. Zidane stood up and started to walk away. He heard the man sigh with relief that the clumsy little kid was gone.  
  
"Now, back to business," Zidane said to himself, glancing back at the daggers. He gently lifted them from their perch on the self and waited till the coast was clear, and by the looks of the busy shopkeeper, it was. He casually made his way out of the weapon shop, congratulating himself on his most recent accomplishment.  
  
After leaving the shop, he turned a corner to get away from the hustle and bustle of the local market, so he could have some time to himself to give his new daggers a closer look. Meeting his requirements for the examination, he slipped the daggers around his waist where they would be safe. "This calls for a celebration! I wonder if Pops if up for it," Zidane said to himself before he walked away to the aircab station.  
  
Ignoring the looks he was getting from various people, Zidane stepped off the aircab and walked down the main street of the industrial district toward Pops' diner. He definitely wasn't ready to turn if for the night back at the church. He felt a little bit guilty from stealing. It's not the best thing to do before freeloading in the local church. Visiting Pops was the best way to celebrate, or so he thought.  
  
Upon reaching the swinging doors of Pops' diner, Zidane heard some disturbing noises. He laid his hand on the door while trying to decide whether he should come in or not. He pushed on the door a little but backed away again when he heard a couple of crashes followed by a slur of curses. The curses died down for about a second so Zidane took another step closer to the door. Then the curses started again. They seemed to be getting louder with every breath Zidane took, as if the person cursing was getting closer.  
  
Zidane was too confused to come up with the idea to just walk away from the diner and pretend like the whole thing didn't happen. So when the swinging doors flung open, one of them hit Zidane right between the eyes and knocked him on his back.  
  
His world faded to black...then to blue...really bright blue...  
  
Author's Note: No, I don't know when the last time I updated this was. All I know is that it's been a really really long time. My computer had some issues that I had to fix before I could use it again. Some stupid wire came loose. Oh well, nothing a pair of scissors and some electrical tape can't fix. I blame the wire on the flying monkeys, so go complain to them.  
  
-Insomniac- 


	15. Picking Up Roadkill

Disclaimer: *yawn*...the disclaimer needs a vacation

Never Again: Chapter 15

The young boy sat at the bar finishing his dinner. To his left sat his "brother", Cinna, who was wolfing down another helping, and to his right was his other "brother", Marcus, who was peering over his shoulder giving Cinna a disgusted look. Their adoptive father, Baku, was a few seats down, harassing the man behind the counter. They started out arguing about Baku's tab. It was still considered an argument now, but louder and with a lot more swearing. 

"It's been over a (enter choice word here) month since I've seen so much of as scrap out of your (again, a choice word) tab being paid!" the man said, throwing a hand up into the air in annoyance.

"That's (dirty word) bull (another dirty word)! I was in here Tuesday and left about 20 (dirty word) gil lighter," Baku argued back, slamming a fist down on the table. Some of the plates came down with his fist and shattered on the ground. Both men cursed out-loud as the plates hit the ground, then continued their argument. 

"Maybe I would've remembered this so called payment if a certain deadbeat wouldn't come in here and trash everything! Maybe a tip once in a while would've jolted my memory. Think of all the possibilities!" 

"Tip! If you want a (obscenity) tip, maybe you should show a little more (beeeeep) respect towards your (curse) customers."

"Show respect to a lazy (cough cough) deadbeat who never pays, like you?" the man dared to say.

"Yeah, a lazy (dirty word) deadbeat who never pays but still saves some time to get yer (beeep) (honk) outta a jam just out of the goodness of his heart! The way I see it, you owe me my tab and then some," Baku fought back. The man behind the counter was obviously getting tired of the argument and started rubbing his temples. Baku glared at the man then turned to the boys. "Finish stuffin' your faces. We're outta here!"

"Hey, what about your tab?" man asked angrily when Baku stood up.

"Ya know what? (Bad word) you! You go to (heck)! You go to (heck) and you die you (bad word) (@%^#)!" Baku yelled back. Blank flinched at each one of his curses as he followed the still-cursing Baku out of the diner. Baku didn't stop cursing until he forcefully flung open the swinging doors to the diner, taking down an innocent passer. "(Beeeep)"

"Baku, look what you did!" Marcus said while stepping up towards the fallen boy to get a closer look.

"I think you killed him," Cinna joked.

"What's going on out here?" the man from the diner said as he stepped outside to where all the commotion was taking place.

"Mind yer own business!" Baku retorted when he saw him.

"It is my business when you start harassing my regulars!"

"You know this kid?" Baku asked.

"Yeah."

"Where's his parents?"

"I don't know. I've never seen them before."

"Ok...What's his name?" Baku asked suspiciously.

"Don't know that either."

"You're useless!"

"Maybe we should take him back home with us," Blank said from the back of the crowd.

"Oh no! I'm still tryin' to get rid of the last thing I let come home with me," Baku answered as he shot Blank a dirty look.

"No...Not permanently. Just until he wakes up."

"I'm sure his parents would love that...their kid staying the night with a bunch of strangers."

"Well, it's the least you can do. You did knock him out cold. You can't just leave him out in the middle of the street."

"Fine!" Baku shouted. He bent down, picked up the sleeping boy in a not so gentle sweep, and turned back to Blank. "I hope yer happy!"

"Very," Blank answered sarcastically as he started following Baku back to their hideout. He ignored the weird looks people gave the passing group and silently laughed at Baku's "What are you looking at?" remarks. 

Blank sighed happily when they finally reached the place they called home. He noticed that Baku had put the boy back down on the ground so he shot him a dirty look, hoping that he would notice. And he did.

"What?"

"Your making him sleep on the ground?"

"Where else are we supposed to put him? Unless one of you's gonna volunteer your bed." 

"Welcome back, ya'll," a young girl interrupted as she walked into the room. "We have guests? Hey, wut's wrong with the little feller?"

"Baku knocked him unconscious, Ruby," Marcus snickered. Ruby looked worried. She walked closer and knelt down next to the boy.

"Wut in tarnation?" she asked as she picked up the blond furry appendage. "A tail?"

"A tail? I think I've seen him around before..." Blank thought out load.

"Do ya know his name?" Baku asked him. Blank shook his head. "Nobody knows his name. Great."

"Why don't you check his pockets?" Marcus spoke up.

"You're thinkin' about robbing him?!" Cinna asked in surprise.

"No! Check his pockets to see if he's got any i.d. on him...or maybe something else that'll give us a clue of who he is," Marcus argued back.

"Good idea," Baku said as he started to check the boy. "Oh, nice daggers...Do ya think maybe he's rich?"

"Don't get too excited," Blank stated dryly, "I think they're stolen." Baku gave him a confused look. "Just a hunch."

 Baku brought his eyes off Blank and continued to search the boy's pockets. He removed the items that didn't give much information and set them in a pile with the daggers. The pile was starting to get pretty big and was made up of things like money, watches, and jewelry. This was definitely the work of a thief. Baku then pulled out a folded up piece of off-white paper from one of the boy's back pockets. "Here we go!" Baku said as he carefully started unfolding the note. "'Dear Zidane'," he started reading. "At least we know his name now. 'I'm sorry I had to leave you here, but I hope you understand it was for your own good...' This doesn't sound too good, you guys. 'I didn't want you to have to go back to that place and live that kind of life. You don't deserve that kind of torment. No one does. I also want you to know that this is not goodbye. I'm going to come back for you, although I don't know when.' Oh boy."

"Sound's like his parents left him high and dry..." Cinna said quietly.

"How 'bout we let the lil feller stay with us?" Ruby asked, still holding the boy's tail.

"No! There's no way in hell I'm doing that!" Baku answered angrily.

"Well, if he's a theif like ya'll thought, he should fit in perfectly."

"...And we could always use another thief to help us out," Marcus cut in. The three boys and one girl all looked up at Baku with pleading eyes and smiled sweetly until he was forced to make a decision.

"Fine, but yer lookin' out for him 'til he wakes up," Baku answered, gesturing at Blank.

"Fine by me."

Author's Note: I know it's kinda been awhile since I last updated, but I'm better about it than I usually am. I've been wanting to finish another chapter...really I have, but with all these storms, and floods, and power-outs...Well, let's just say it's been making writing more difficult. I need the power to get my computer to work, and I need my computer to type the chapter! Grrr. The weather is not on my side. Go, flying monkeys! Go and attack the weather!

-Insomniac-


	16. Hello, My Name Is

Disclaimer: the disclaimer is back from its vacation and is disclaiming FF9...just so I don't get sued.

Never Again: Chapter 16

Blank was starting to drift off when the boy finally started to stir. Blank snapped out of his sleeping spell and leaned over the boy to get a closer look. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and started to shake him. "Hey kid, wake up," Blank said softly to the sleeping figure before yelling over his shoulder to his brothers. "Hey guys, I think he's starting to come to!"

Baku walked over and stood over Blank with a sleepy Cinna and Marcus following him. "Wow...look at that bump," Marcus yawned. "Nice goin', boss."

"Well, is he gonna wake up or not?" a grumpy Cinna mumbled. 

"I think so," Blank answered while he continued to nudge the boy out of his slumber. "Come on, kid. Wake up!"

"Well this is all very excitin', boys, but a man's gotta sleep," Baku said groggily. "You have fun tryin' to wake him up. I'm gonna turn in for the night."

"You should be the one watchin' him, Baku. You're the one who put him out in the first place," Cinna argued.

"Hmph...If it were up to me, we'd all be sleepin' instead of babysittin' some kid. Besides...we had a deal. It's Blank's job to babysit." Baku answered while Blank shot him a dirty look. He ignored it and attempted to step over the only sleeping boy in the room. However, because of his drowsiness, his footing was a little off, and he stepped on the boy's tail, waking him instantly with a yelp.

"Baku!" the three younger boys yelled all at once when they heard the yelp.

"Oops...sorry," Baku laughed.

"Jees, haven't you done enough to the poor kid?" Blank added angrily before directing his attention back to the boy. He was finally sitting upright, but was holding his injured tail with his eyes shut tight from the pain. When they blinked open again, they were wide with shock. He sprung up instantly in an attempt to run away, but was caught just as fast by Baku.

"Hey! Calm down, kid," Baku said, his voice rising a little bit more as the boy continued to struggle out of his grasp. "Calm down! We're not gonna hurt ya..."

"I think you're only making it worse, boss," Marcus laughed at Baku's parenting skills.

"You can laugh at me, or you can try to help me!" Baku struggled to say over the boy's squirming. "Arg! That's it! Sit!" Baku yelled while forcing the boy down to a sitting position. 

"Calm down, kid. Nobody's gonna hurt you. Trust us. Just calm down," Marcus tried to coax the boy while Baku held him down. 

"I know Baku's kinda...really ugly, but he won't hurt you," Blank laughed, contributing to the coaxing.

"Hey! Not as ugly as yer little-" 

"Wut's goin' on in here!" Everyone, including the captive boy, turned around to see a half-asleep Ruby standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips in irritation. "Wut are ya'll doin' to the poor feller? Ya'll tryin' to scare 'im half to death? Yer doin' a pretty good job!" 

"We're just tryin' to calm him down!" Cinna yelled back defensively. Ruby rolled her eyes and stepped out of the doorway toward the group. Some of them backed out of the way as Ruby was giving them death glares for disrupting her sleep. She finally stopped when she was standing in front of the overly frightened boy. 

"It's gonna be ok, sweety," Ruby said calmly as she started smoothing the boy's ruffled blond hair. His fighting gradually lessened because of Ruby's motherly touch and soothing voice (even with the accent). When the struggling stopped completely, he looked up at her with big blue eyes. "Aw...I think he's kinda cute."

"Um...who-" the boy started until he was cut of by Cinna.

"Wait a minute...How did she do that?"

Ruby rolled her eyes once more. "...Men."

"Where am-" they boy tried again but was cut off again by Baku.

"Look at me, kid..." Baku said while waving a finger in front of his face. Noticing that the boy followed the movement, he went on to the next test. He pulled out a small flashlight and shined it into each the boy's eyes. "Ok, that seems to work...Now, how many fingers am I holding up?" Baku continued while the boy tried to blink back the little white dots the flashlight left.

"Three...but, who are-"

"Now, say your name..."Baku interrupted yet again.

The boy gave Baku a confused look after a few seconds of thinking. "Umm...I don't really know right now, but...could you tell me who you-"

"Good goin', boss! You gave him amnesia!" Blank argued

"Poor thing..." Ruby said quietly while giving the boy another pat on the head. 

"Yer actin' like I hit him on purpose!" Baku argued back while looking around past Ruby to catch a glance at Blank. 

"Who are you people!?" the boy finally yelled over all the fighting. Everyone sans the boy stopped their arguing and turned to look at him. "Should I know who you are 'cause if I should, I'm sorry. I don't even know who I am or where I am."

Everyone looked to the leader for explanation. Baku glared back at them before starting. "Umm...well...ya see...Yer not really supposed to know us. We just met."

"Oh, and your name's Zidane," Blank blurted out, remembering the note they found in his pocket.

"How do you know my name if we've never met?"

"We-" Baku tried to explain before Marcus cut him off.

"You told us before you passed out." Baku raised his eyebrow at Marcus in confusion. Marcus answered back with a look that said "You weren't going to tell him that his parents left him, and by doing so, possibly traumatize him forever, were you?" 

"Ok...now could you tell me where I am?" Zidane said slowly, trying to understand every bit of information given to him.

"You're at your new home!" Cinna said proudly. Proud because he was mocking Baku, who didn't want to take care of another stray child. 

"Here, these are yours," Blank said while sliding the pile of things they found on Zidane, except the note that Baku still had, to him. 

"You must've been a pretty good thief to get such a nice collection," Cinna said, grinning at Baku. "That's why you're joining Tantalus and living with all of us. We could use an extra pair of hands."

"Yeah, and we should probably introduce ourselves, since you're gonna be living with us," Marcus said before Baku had a chance to argue again about not wanting another kid. "I'm Marcus," he said, offering his hand to Zidane. Zidane took it and Marcus continued with the introductions. "The redhead's name is Blank and the chubby kid is Cinna," he said, pointing to each one of them.

"Nice to meetcha, Zidane," Blank answered as politely as possible for a 6 year old thief.

"Same here," Cinna said with the same courtesy. "What was that about bein' chubby, Marcus?"

"Never mind," Marcus said quickly. "The girl's Ruby and the big guy's Baku."

"Pleasure," Ruby said while continuing to play with Zidane's hair. 

"You can call me boss..." Baku grumbled while still glaring at Cinna.

"You can call him Baku," Cinna laughed.

"No he can't!"

Zidane gave Baku and unsure smile. "Well...umm...it's nice to meet you all. I'm Zidane...I think."

Author's Note: Yay! I'm done! And I'm in pain! I just got my wisdom teeth pulled out. It hurts. And if this chapter is a little weird in some way shape or form, blame all the painkillers I've been taking. They're making me all dopey. Oh, and about the last chapter...I said that Zidane heard swearing, but I still tried to make it as pg 13 as Baku's mouth goes...Yeah...Actually, those words sound pretty good right now...Sorry...drugs talking.

-Insomniac-


	17. Chapter Wannabe

Disclaimer: I don't have to disclaim this since it's not a chapter!!!

Never Again: Chapter 17 (well...not really)

Author's note: This is not a chapter...obviously. I just want to say that I don't know how the funny marks ended up in my last chapter. I don't even know what those marks mean and can't find them on my keyboard. So I fixed it. Go me! I seriously think that my computer finally blew a fuse...or I could blame it on the flying monkeys again. They always make a nice scapegoat. Oh...and you don't really have to review this chapter wannabe. Technically, you don't even have to read this chapter wannabe...why are you still reading this anyway? Ok, I'm done rambling.

-Insomniac-


	18. Big Finale

Disclaimer: *sniff* *tear* this might be my final disclaimer for this story...I'll tell you why later if you haven't figured it out yet.  
  
Never Again: Chapter 18 (just say it's chapter 18 for the sake of our sanity even if the last chapter wasn't really a chapter)  
  
Fires everywhere eating everything. Fires started from the rage of an angry soul. Fires intent on killing. The reds, oranges, and yellows licking up in every direction, were a nice change to eerie blue color the atmosphere usually possessed even if the new color meant destruction to whatever it touched. They young man smiled mischievously, happy to be the only thing in the room not engulfed in flames. His smile grew wider every time a page from the book he held was torn off and fed to the fire.  
  
It was then when an older gray-haired man, who was currently walking the streets, stopped in his tracks and gasped at the sight before him. "Kuja! What do you think you're doing?" he man, Garland, said as he snatched the book away from the other's hand.  
  
"Cleaning," Kuja said simply. Garland gave him an estranged look. "Cleaning up your mess, Garland. What's all this I'm hearing about a reprogramming? What are you expecting me...no...programming me to do in Gaia?"  
  
"That's none of your business."  
  
"What do you mean it's none of my business?! It's MY mind you're trying manipulate! It's MY memories you're trying to erase! It's MY life you're trying to control!" Kuja said on the edge of hysterics.  
  
"Yes, well, you are MY gnome, MY creation, and that soul of yours, with all its precious memories, also belongs to ME."  
  
"I'm not your little gnome, excuse me...puppet, anymore!"  
  
"A new wardrobe and a different haircut doesn't change the inevitable..." the man replied smugly.  
  
"Yeah, maybe you're right, but a little bit of my own reprogramming and a whole new list of spells just might do the trick," Kuja laughed back, gaining him another stare from Garland. "If you need me, I'll be in Gaia...trying to find what you can't."  
  
"Do you even know what it is that you are looking for?"  
  
"You didn't really specify in your works here...they're toasting quite nicely, by the way...but I bet I'll know when I find him. Then I'll kill him...and there goes your plan."  
  
"So you really don't remember?" Garland asked quickly before Kuja got a chance to walk off.  
  
"Remember what?"  
  
"What happened last time you went to Gaia."  
  
"I've never been to Gaia, Garland," Kuja sighed in annoyance.  
  
"Yes you have, and you'll be happy to hear that you're the reason why I'm looking for someone in Gaia." Kuja rolled his eyes at Galand's supposed lies. "And I'm happy to hear that some of my reprogramming must've worked. You obviously don't remember a thing."  
  
"Reprogram this!" Kuja yelled while casting flare on his unsuspecting adversary. Unfortunately, Garland easily deflected it. Kuja seemed a little peeved.  
  
"But not all of the reprogramming worked. You're still as brash as you ever were, and your soul is still way to temperamental...weak little thing. I'll congratulate you on your new list of spells, however. They were a little more powerful than your usual firecrackers that you call bombs."  
  
"Shut up, Garland! I'm a lot more powerful than you think!" Kuja said, storming away. "By the way, that flare spell wasn't supposed to hurt you. It just signals the silver dragons where to attack."  
  
Garland turned around when he heard the screech of a silver dragon, only to find a multitude of dragons hovering over him with their fangs bared and smoke seeping out of their mouths. One of the dragons decided to ignore Garland and flew right past him, landing just inches away from Kuja.  
  
"Just so you know, this is the end. When I go to Gaia, the days of you controlling me will be over, the days of you being more powerful than me will be over, and the days of you even living will be over. Then I will finally be free because this is never going to happen again. NEVER AGAIN. Got that?" The obedient silver dragon offered Kuja its head it which Kuja gave it a slight pat before he climbed up onto his back. He then readied himself into a comfortable position, so the dragon could spread his wings and lift off, but not before giving Garland a final wave "goodbye".  
  
"Have fun, Garland!" Kuja laughed mockingly when the dragon was a few good feet off the ground. In return, Garland tried to give Kuja an angry glare, but it looked more like a pouting face from Kuja's point of view. Garland turned back toward the task at hand to come face to face with one of the many silver dragons.  
  
"This is going to be a long night."  
  
Author's Note: I know it's kinda depressing, but this is the end of my fic. It's even more depressing since the ending's so short, but at least Kuja was able to go out with a bang (I just wanted to spite Garland). I'm planning on doing a sequel of this fic that's a sequel to the game too, so look for that when I finally stop being so lazy and write it. Until next time...  
  
-Insomniac- 


End file.
